Borough boosters to meet

Revitalization Coalition wants to hear from public

By: Stephanie Brown
   JAMESBURG — Let your voice be heard.
   The Jamesburg Revitalization Coalition is seeking input from borough residents, workers, officials and property and business owners to get a sense of what the town’s future — in particular, the future of downtown business district — should look like.
   The coalition will hold a public meeting at Borough Hall on Monday at 7:30 p.m. Members of the public are encouraged to share their ideas and sign up to volunteer their time, said JRC Chairman Elliot Stroul.
   "We need to recruit more bodies that are committed to doing the right thing for the future of Jamesburg," Mr. Stroul said.
   The JRC is an independent organization made up of borough business and property owners, political figures and residents. The group’s purpose, according to its members, is to turn the borough’s downtown into a thriving business district while maintaining the area’s historic character.
   "We want to make sure everyone has an opportunity to speak on what they think will make the business district stronger," said Councilman John Longo, a member of the coalition. "We want to be sensitive to the various ethnicities, religious groups — to all groups in town. And the only way we can be sensitive to them is if we listen to them."
   Organization will be the central focus of Monday night’s meeting. The coalition will ratify a constitution, appoint committee members, elect a board, and inform the public of the coalition’s plans for the upcoming year.
   The public’s involvement is especially important now, members say, because the revitalization plans will start gaining momentum with the turning of the new year.
   In January, graduate students from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University will begin analyzing the borough’s downtown area.
   The students will study what areas need to be targeted for improvement and recommend how the borough could achieve those improvements, Mr. Stroul said.
   Rutgers will hold a public meeting in February and March. At the end of the semester in May, the students will make recommendations based on their findings and input from the community.
   However, Mr. Stroul said the final project is in the hands of the borough’s people and will be a product of their cumulative efforts.
   "Everybody’s a stakeholder," Mr. Stroul said. "If they don’t realize that, this isn’t going to go very far."